Busy

It is very busy in our home. First of all, Amber is sitting for her exams and is studying like crazy. She also has a new job at this Italian trattoria. She practices with the band quite often as she has a few performances coming weeks. She had two long days of entrance exams for the study "Writing for performances" in Utrecht. She will do the same coming Saturday in Arnhem for "Creative writing". She started the second course of Writing on Thursday evening. She is one busy lady.
Joost has done auditions for the school musical. He is practising for the soccer school competition next week. He goes to his 'normal'soccer training twice a week and plays matches on Saturday.
Chris has many assignments to finish for his study Geography. His History exam will be in June. He has been a guide for the local Tour de Technique in Deventer. He is preparing a schoolcamp which will take place in May.
I have started my lessons again. I have been busy calling lots of companies, organizations, offices, bureaus and my solicitor for things that need to be arranged/cancelled/resigned due to my fathers death. I have been cleaning out his house. Taking away some of his art pieces. Selling some furniture and books, his TV and car. Reading letters I wrote to him and which he kept all those years. I also need to work in my garden as it looks terrible. Will get some help for that luckily.
Yep. We are busy. And we do not seem to have time to grieve...

My lilac tree

He will not return,

But the time has come

When my lilac tree

With stout branches and big roots

Gives off its fragrance

And is buzzing with happy bees

Disbelief

March 21st was one of the most saddest days in my life. My dad died. Unexpected, his sudden death left me speechless, full of disbelief. He was 68 years old.
And now, as his only child, I have to make difficult decisions. On my own. I have to take care of everything. I need to clean out his house where he lived for the past 36 years or so. I don't know what I am feeling. I feel empty, angry, sad. Amber sang on his funeral. It was so beautiful and yet so sad.

Afgesneden

Zoveel soorten van verdriet
ik noem ze niet.
Maar één, het afstand doen en scheiden.
En niet het snijden doet zo’n pijn,
maar het afgesneden zijn.

Nog is het mooi, ’t geraamte van een blad,
vlinderlicht rustend op de aarde,
alleen nog maar zijn wezen waard.
Maar tussen de aderen van het lijden
niets meer om u mee te verblijden:
mazen van uw afwezigheid
bijeengehouden door wat pijn
en groter wordend met de tijd.

Arm en beschaamd zo arm te zijn.

letterpress prints

I came across a series of hilar­i­ous, let­ter­press prints. Check out the rest here.

Aren't they hilarious? LOVE THEM! Keep being creative, use your imagination and life will be so much more fun.

the difference

A Spanish teacher was explaining to her class that in Spanish, unlike English, nouns are designated as either masculine of feminine.
"House" for instance, is feminine: "La casa".
"Pencil", however, is masculine: "el lapiz."

A student asked, "what gender is "computer"?

Instead of giving the answer, the teacher split the class into two groups, male and female, and asked them to decide for themselves whether computer should be a masculine of feminine noun. Each group was asked to give four reasons for its recommendation.

The men's group decided that "computer" should definitely be of the feminine gender ( "la computadora") because:
1. No one but their creator understands their internal logic;
2. The native language they use to communicate with other computers is incomprehensible to everyone else;
3. Even the smallest mistakes are stored in long term memory for possible later retrieval; and
4. As soon as you make a commitment to one, you find yourself spending half your paycheque on accesories for it.

(THIS GETS BETTER!)

The women's group, however, concluded that computers should be masculine ( "el computador) because:
1. In order to do anything with them, you have to turn them on;
2. The have a lot of data but still can't think for themselves;
3. They are supposed to help you solve problems, but half the time they ARE the problem; and
4. As soon as you commit to one, you realize that if you had waited a little longer, you could have gotten a better model.

The women won.

New daughter

For one evening, I had a new daughter. A daughter with a complete make-over. But was it for the best? Well, for that night it was. Amber had a party from school and had to dress up. Wow. Inspired by Lisbeth Salander (Millenium)see first picture, Amber transformed into a .....what can I say? See for yourself! Her entrance was not unnoticed at the schoolparty. :)

The real Lisbeth Salander:


And my new daughter: